The charm of WoO38 is persuasively conveyed, with the group playing up the work’s galant origins. Their conversational ease in the opening movement works well, and theirs is a more elegant view of the Scherzo than that of the Wanderer and Florestan Trios, who make more of its skittishness, emphasising the contrast with the smoother Trio section.

The key of C minor always inspired something very special in Beethoven. In the earlier works, such as the third of the Op 1 Trios, it drew from him writing of tremendous power and vehemence. If Trio Wanderer’s pianist Vincent Coq is a degree more effortless in the virtuoso passagework of the Allegro con brio, the Gould Trio are compelling in the variation-form Andante cantabile. In the scherzo (misleadingly labelled Menuetto) I missed the coiled energy of the Wanderer and Florestan (more to do with tautness of phrasing than tempo), though the Gould are wonderfully sinuous in the more lyrical moments. Overall, though, no one captures the work’s iconoclastic qualities better than Staier, Sepec and Queyras, from their shaded opening to the violently driven Prestissimo finale.

The Gould’s sensitive opening to the Op 70 No 2 Trio doesn’t quite match the sense of mystery attained by the Beaux Arts, while the Florestan and Wanderer are higher in energy in the following Allegro. But the Gould find a good balance of charm and drama in the double-variation second movement, and the Allegretto has a simple songfulness that is most affecting.

There are more dramatic readings of these works around but these performances are unfailingly musicianly, complemented by an unobtrusive audience, good balance and fine booklet-notes from Robert Matthew-Walker.